It's all about causality. If ANYONE has a food intolerance and you feed them the food that they cannot digest, then they WILL suffer from it. And what happens when children are suffering? You've guessed it: "hyperactivity, temper tantrums, problems with eye contact and speech skills, and physical ailments such as skin rashes and seizures for certain groups of children."

Hell, this doesn't just happen to children. When I suffer from a toothache, or backache, or a migraine, I have hyperactivity, tantrums and my speech skills reduce considerably. Does this mean I have autism? No!

So when you have a child with autism and a food intolerance, you will have two different potential causes for this collection of symptoms. If you remove one of the causes, then you will see an improvement in behaviour. That does not mean anything regarding the other cause.

And guess what - it's now in his statement - 'face to face OT is essential for him to access his education'. BOOM YA !!!! And that was fought, battled, bloodied and won by his amazing ASD school - did I forget to mention ... BOOM YA!!!

HUW x

Fair play to Vegans - it's tough but they believe in what they believe in , and work hard to get their nutrition , good for them really as they are prepared to put a lot into their way of life x

And many people are intolerant of some food - my children included, and so diet becomes important and a main thing to consider in their life. Tough but essential.

It's not a bad thing to have a specialist diet at all.

But for me. - DO NOT YAP AND MOAN AT WHAT I PUT ON MY PLATE ! I know how to nourish my family and I know processed sugar harms their teeth. - but PLEASE do not say I cause them a lifelong disabilty by feeding them processed fishfingers!

MissMac once made a quip in a forum along the lines of, "Next they'll be saying that the can of Diet Coke you drank in the first trimester of pregnancy caused your child's autism," and people took it seriously.

Part of "autism diet" is because people want something to blame; part of it is because a GF/CF diet is a real pain in the arse to maintain because our culture isn't really very well geared up to it, so the effort involved does give parents a sense of proactive empowerment; another part of it is because people genuinely don't understand how causality works with medical conditions and disabilities.

The way people respond to autism is every bit as complex and varied as autism itself is.

Give me a tonne of coke, some jelly sweets, smarties (the old ones with artificial colourings in). and some ice cream (as I can't have lactose) and I will go all autism in ya face. I will be hyper, challenging, mood will be up and down and have "bowel issues".

Give me a balanced diet with treats in moderation, plenty of good food (meat, veg etc etc) and you will see I have Autism, you will see meltdowns, bad days and good days but it will be a lot more even.

Does diet cure my Autism? Nope.

Does diet effect me like many other people in this world and make me a bit bitchy when I feel a bit crappy? And on a sugar high? Yup!

Was about to add that my dd and little boy both absolutely despise anything diary, they don't touch anything diary based via their own personal choice, it certainly has not stopped their anxieties, panic attacks, autism, depression, etc etc etc

Edited as I first wrote mozzy's real name! DohOh! And here's this article recently suggested for adhd's *big yawn*

Jack doesn't like food in general and so my focus is always checking that he's getting enough calories into him rather than be concerned with what he is eating tbh

Jack had anaphylaxis as a baby to Farleys rusks which I think is possibly behind his reluctance to eat and Lucy to fish so we exclude that but only that from her diet although she excludes plenty of other stuff.

I have real difficulty getting a balanced diet into mine as they are such faddy eaters. If I started removing gluten and or dairy, they wouldn't eat anything! They don't have a lot of sweets etc, but they won't eat anything mixed or in sauce so meal times are a challenge.

J does react to various foods and additives, the reason I decided to remove certain additives/ colourants from his diet is that the reaction accentuates his autistic behaviour but even when on a a very controlled diet he still has extreme meltdowns.
The reason I started investigations is my eldest NT son had severe stomach troubles as a toddler which I was able to pin down to various preservatives which he eventually outgrew.
I have several weird food allergies ( you try to eat out and explaining that you have an allergy to black pepper - if I am lucky I have three choices off the menu ) , I tend to add a new one every couple of years ( the allergy to bay leaf was the most difficult to dx)

What I am trying to say is that JR is right that they may interact but are different and you can easily be one without the other.